Julius Caesar Character Analysis in Shakespeare’s Tragedy

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar, Caesar may have seen himself as a god, taking his precious life for granted, however it was not through means of disloyalty to the common people of Rome, but through disloyalty to himself. Julius Caesar basked in his power and glory enough as to not realize the great underlying risk it is to be such a well-known and open figure to the public, unfortunately at the expense of his life. Power has the ability to be significant enough to cost someone their existence by getting to their head so rapidly. The struggles and downsides of power were unknown to the oblivious Julius Caesar, alas making him incapable of gaining a full capacity of power or even living long enough to do so. Caesar’s inability to listen to those around him constantly advising and suggesting, made him most susceptible to the subconscious manipulation of power. In the efforts of a nobleman or woman of heart, their struggle for power gain and execution of that power once it is secured, allows not only their true intentions and personalities to be revealed to the people surrounding them, but their intelligence as well.

Caesar’s god-complex and reliance in his power revealed itself through his inability to believe that his wife, Calphurnia, may be clever enough to listen to to about the supernatural occurrences she believed she was seeing in her dreams and feeling in her presence, that were warning her about the safety of her husband, however Caesar could never understand the fact that others are correct sometimes and that it can be a smarter move to listen to the guidance of friends and family even though he had such a high stance in society, therefore a higher stance in intelligence. After the soothsayer warns Caesar of the ides of March, Caesar completely disregards his guidance, believing that his stance in the social construct of Rome allowed no one to harm him due to his great power. When the ides of March creep up, Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators inform Caesar that he is being awarded a crown that day and that he will miss a massive opportunity if he does not attend the event, convincing Caesar to discard the tiny worries in the back of his head that he had about the ides of March. Once Caesar’s wife, Calphurnia, is aware of Caesar leaving the safety of his house while being around the people whom he trusts with his life, directly disobeying the soothsayer’s suggestion, Calphurnia begins to notify Caesar of her angst and his stupidity. Calphurnia briefs Caesar about the fact that she believed that she was visualizing omens and supernatural circumstances that were cautioning her of the ides of March and the safety of Caesar, not only in her dreams, but throughout the day as well. Yet, Caesar continues to dismiss her begging by claiming that no one would dare to hurt a leader so loved, humble, and great: “Caesar shall forth. The things that threatened me Ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see The face of Caesar, they are vanished,”(2.2,10-12). Caesar hugely underestimates the smarts of the civilians around him, and greatly overestimates the people’s view of him as their leader. Caesar’s view of himself infects how he thinks the people see him, directly relating to his power allowing him to assume that stance. Caesar states, “Ne’er looked but on my back”, indicating that he believes anyone who looks at him up close and gets to know him would never want to kill him, yet again overestimating both his modesty and power. Julius Caesar’s height on the social pyramid gave him the arrogance to make him unable to take the help and two senses given to him by others.

Caesar was at a great fault in his resilience to acknowledge the government officials around him while he was in power, constantly advising and suggesting things to help guide him, especially Caesar’s right hand man, Mark Antony, solely due to his narcissistic core. Mark Antony was Julius Caesar’s most well-known friend and public official. When the plebians of Rome thought of Mark Antony, they thought of Julius Caesar. Caesar essentially hired Mark Antony to do nothing, someone who he could take advantage of due to his authority. Caesar made Antony do miniscule activities and run errands so that it would seem as though he was useful to the untrained eye. However, Caesar only has him as his right-hand man so that he can seem like someone who would look to and listen to others for advice in the impartial and important handlings of Rome, but he does not think twice about what Antony says to him. During a public ceremony, celebrating Rome and Julius Caesar, Caesar summons Antony towards him, Antony replies with, “I shall remember. When Caesar says ‘Do this,’ it is performed,”(1.2,12-13). Antony acts extremely passively towards Caesar revealing the true and great power that Caesar holds and takes advantage of over others that surround him. Caesar’s arrogance allows him to treat Antony like a dog with a bone. Antony states, “it is performed”, indicating that he wouldn’t dare to disobey Caesar, feeding into Caesar’s god-complex. Caesar’s inability to treat others with respect and fairness directly relates to his ravaging god-complex, allowing him to treat Antony as a puppet.

Caesar could not fully grasp the importance of the idea that he can not be right all of the time, nevertheless he chose to ignore the warnings of a local soothsayer, stemming from his inability to trust what his advisers tell him when it does not necessarily line up with his opinion and what he thinks to be true, furthermore, his ability to do this directly relates to the power he holds over the common people of Rome. Julius Caesar was the current political leader during this period in Rome. During a public outing, Julius Caesar is stopped by a soothsayer in the crowd who warns him about a frightening occurrence that he may be the target of on a specific day in March. However, considering his track record in trusting other people’s guidance, Caesar chooses to ignore the soothsayer’s warning and his advice to be overly cautious that day by dismissing his words and commenting on his mental stability: “He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass,”(1.2,29). Caesar is able to immediately disregard the soothsayer's advice because of the power he holds, indicating that he is aloof enough to think that no one would ever dare to cross him due to his leadership role over the oblivious plebeians of Rome. Caesar’s god-complex kept him from listening to others even when it was regarding something as important as his well being and safety. Caesar states, “He is a dreamer”, disclosing that he is using his overwhelming confidence to try and undermine the soothsayer’s intelligence to make it seem as though the soothsayer has no idea what he is talking about, and being his god-like self, Caesar assumes that he has everything under control and nothing to be cautious about because the civilians of Rome believe him to be a great and humble man who is continuously trying to make Rome a better place. Julius Caesar’s downfall can be summed up to his inability to take anything anyone else says into consideration due to his great arrogance that he has obtained due to the power that has gotten to his head.

Cleverness, devotion, and personality all factor into the makings of a great leader, and a leader without them will reveal themselves all too quickly. Caesar consciously chose not to listen to the people he surrounded himself with that were there to help him, including the people closest to him or even when regarding dangerous situations. Caesar’s inability to agree with anyone other than himself led to his great downfall. A god-complex molds a person into someone who will never be able to learn from their mistakes, while some will be given a second chance to redeem themselves, others will not, including the great Julius Caesar.